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For commentary, info and to add your own comments, click here or on the discussion tab above. ---- Introduction Page One ... Page Two ... Page Three ... Without Commentary ... Cleary Translation ... Shinjin-No-Mei D.T.Suzuki ---- A translation known as Faith Mind by Clark is a W.I.P. as is the original Chinese ---- ::::''HsinHsinMing ::::(commentary R.H.Blyth) :THE MORE TALKING AND THINKING, :THE FARTHER FROM THE TRUTH. :Haiku are the briefest kind of poetry consonant with the :possession of form and rhythm. By the reduction of poetical :expression to seventeen syllables we narrow the circle around :that invisible, unwritable central poetic life until no mistake :is possible, no discolouration of the object is left, all is :transparent and as though wordless. Yungchia says: :''When asked, "What is your religion?" :''I answer, "The Power of the Makahannya". Great Wisdom :''Sometimes affirming things, sometimes denying them, :''It is beyond the wisdom of man. :''Sometimes with common sense, sometimes against it, :''Heaven cannot make head or tail of it. :CUTTING OFF ALL SPEECH, ALL THOUGHT, :THERE IS NOWHERE THAT YOU CANNOT GO. :This does not mean that there is to be no speech, no words, but :that there is to be speech that is non-speaking, silence that is :expressive; thought that is ego-less, mindlessness through which :the Mind is flowing. This mindless, speechless, thinking and :talking state is one in which we realize the impermanence of all :things. But this "realize", does not mean an intellectual :comprehension, but a "making real" in ourselves as :actual-potential state. It is not that all things are impermanent :and that we must perceive this fact, but that our "seeing" the :change that a thing is, and the change that is seen are one :activity, neither cause nor effect, neither hen nor egg. :"There is nowhere that you cannot go", in other words, you are :the Buddha, -- not *a* Buddha, but *the* Buddha, beyond all time :and space, eternal and infinite, yet here and now. You have all :because you have nothing; having no desires, they are all :fulfilled, yet you own property; you hope for this and that, talk :and think, plan and day-dream. :RETURNING TO THE ROOT, WE GET THE ESSENCE; :FOLLOWING AFTER APPEARANCES, WE LOSE THE SPIRIT. :What is the "root" of the universe? Some say man, some say God. :It is often convenient to have two names for one thing: :spiritual, material; human, divine; freewill, determinism; :relative, absolute. But if we think of the essence of things as :the root, and the things themselves as branches and leaves, we :are allowing these "thoughts" and "words", spoken of in the :previous verse, to divide once more what is a living unity into a :duality that is dead as such. For whether we look at things in :their multifariousness, their variety and differences, or at the :common elements, the "Life-force", the principles of Science, we :are still far from the root, which is not either, not both, not a :thing at all, -- yet it is not nothing. Buddhists say the mind, :is the root of things -- but it is not something inside us. :Christians say it is God, -- but it is not something outside us. :But to know, to *realize*, the inside and outside as one, that my :profit is your profit, that your loss is my loss, to make this :fact, this dead matter-of-fact into a living, yea-saying Fact, -- :this is our own and our only problem. When this is solved, in out :thinking and speaking, all is solved. When it is not solved, :every thought is twisted, every word is sophisticated. Yungchia :uses the same metaphor of root and leaves in the following verse: :''Cutting off the root (of life and death) directly, :''This is the mark of Buddhahood; :''If you go on plucking leaves (of creeds) and seeking branches :(of abstract principles), :I can do nothing for you. :IF FOR ONLY A MOMENT WE SEE WITHIN, :WE HAVE SURPASSED THE EMPTINESS OF THINGS. :Moments of vision, provided that we are watchful for and :unforgetful of them, coming and going as they do, like a breath :of air, enable us to go beyond the transitoriness, the emptiness, :the unreality of things, -- into what? Our going is to nowhere, :our going is staying here. It is the timeless and spaceless that :cannot exist except in time and space. What happiness to have so :many of these moments, for them to run in a stream through our :lives! Nietzsche, Mozart, Spinoza, Marcus Aurelius, Basho, -- :this is what these names mean to us, the painful-happiness of :these moments of seeing within. :CHANGES GO ON IN THIS EMPTINESS :ALL BECAUSE OF OUR IGNORANCE. :Once we realize that there is no such thing as reality, nothing :can appear as real or unreal. All things are empty in their :self-nature, and when we realize that nothing is unreal, we are :at home in every place; every moment of time, whether past or :present, is now. In our yearning for what is to come, in our :regrets for what is past, time lives in eternity. Our thoughts :wander through infinite space, which is thus in this point of :feeling matter. :DO NOT SEEK FOR THE TRUTH, :ONLY STOP HAVING AN OPINION. :The drowning man searches for water. A more homely and apt :illustration is a man looking for the spectacles that are on his :nose. Confucius says, "making an axe looking for the one your are :using". There is no such thing as "the Truth". The nearest :approach to anything like it is our state of mind when we desist :form the search for it, and live our life. This is what the :"Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment" means when it says: :''Positive views are all perverted views; :''All no-opinions are true opinions. :And Yungchia says also explicitly, :''Do not seek after the truth, :''Do not cut off delusions. :DO NOT REMAIN IN THE RELATIVE VIEW OF THINGS; :RELIGIOUSLY AVOID FOLLOWING IT. :In every way the world is double, good and bad, profit and loss, :here and there. But from another point of view, "There is nothing :good or bad but our thinking makes it so". We are to stop this :"thinking", this "having an opinion", this "judging". Yet if you :say, this is the right view, this is the wring, this the :relative, this is the absolute, we are still "following" it. :Truth is attained only when we realize that there is nothing to :attain to. Eternity has its fulness of perfection in us only when :we are engrossed in the temporal and imperfect. :IF THERE IS THE SLIGHTEST TRACE OF THIS AND THAT, :THE MIND IS LOST IN THE MAZE OF COMPLEXITY. :The Middle Way is indeed the difficult path to tread, a :razor-edge from which we fall into the common errors of mankind. :When we compare the Chinese above with the Hebrew: :''Thou shalt worship no other God; for the Lord, whose name is :''jealous, is a jealous God. :We cannot but be struck by the variety of expressions of an :identical, inexpressible truth. There is here a variety in which :the Mind is *not* lost; this *is* that, however well disguised. :DUALITY ARISES FROM UNITY; :BUT DO NOT BE ATTACHED TO THIS UNITY. :It is the One that unites the Two; without It, the Buddha-nature, :the Void, the Mind, this and that could not exist. But do not :despise this and that and yearn after the Ground of Existence. :Things and circumstances are in themselves neutral, not :meaningless, but *not* coloured intrinsically with the "opinion" :we have of them. :''When we clap our hands, :''The maid serves tea, :''Birds fly up, :''Fish draw near, -- :''At the pond in Sarusawa. :The clapping of the hands is It. The sound as interpreted by the :maid-servant, by the bird, by the fish, is only half of It. But :without halves there is no whole, just as without whole there are :no halves. As we endeavour to release ourselves from phenomena, :the relative world, we became attached to something even more :non-existent, the thing in itself, the noumenon, and thus also it :is said: :''Holding to the One in not Truth. :WHEN THE MIND IS ONE, AND NOTHING HAPPENS, :EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD IS UNBLAMEABLE. :"Nothing happens" means our realizing that nothing increases or :decreases, things are as they are. This is "realized" when the :mind is undivided, when in my own person you and I, he and I are :different names of one thing, that is nevertheless two things. :When nothing in the world is "blamed" as itself and nothing else, :or everything, when, that is, nature has done its part and we do :ours, when we do not upbraid circumstances or indulge in :self-reproach, the mind is the mind and nothing untoward can :occur. Chesterton rightly says, :''An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly understood. An :''inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered. :("On Running After One's Hat") :Things are unblameable, unpraiseable as they flow from change to change: :''Whatever arises from the nature of the whole, and tends towards :''its well-being, is good also for every part of that nature. But :''the well-being of the universe depends on change, not only of the :''elementary, nut also of the compound. :(Marcus Aurelius) :IN THINGS ARE UNBLAMED THEY CEASE TO EXIST; :IF NOTHING HAPPENS, THERE IS NO MIND. :When we neither censure or praise anything, all things are devoid :of censurable and praiseworthy qualities. When we do not judge :things, things do not judge us. When things simply flow, every :atom according to its own nature, according to Nature, according :to its Buddha-nature, there is no mind as something separable :from what is not mind. Yungchia says: :''Walking is Zen, sitting is Zen; :''Whether we speak or are silent, move or are still, :''It is unperturbed. :WHEN THINGS CEASE TO EXIST, THE MIND FOLLOWS THEM; :WHEN THE MIND VANISHES, THINGS ALSO FOLLOW IT. :Subject and object, I and that, here and there, -- when one or :the other (it does not matter which) ceases, both cease. :According to our temperaments, we find it less difficult to :become aware of the emptiness of the ego-concept or the emptiness :of the thing-concept. It is the same difference that gives us the :*jiriki* and *tariki* sects, self-power and other-power. The :first like refers to the former, and the second to the latter. :Yungchia says: :''Trying to get rid of illusion, and seeking to grasp reality, -- :''This giving up and keeping is mere sophistry and lies. :In other words, seeking for the truth and avoiding :discrimination, is itself discrimination. So long as we look for :reality outside ourselves, or inside ourselves, so long will :things refrain from following the (non-)ego into non-existence, :and the (illusory) ego refrain from following things into their :emptiness. Outside and inside are the same thing: what is :outside? :It is but a little blood, a few bones, a paltry net woven from :nerves and veins. A little air, and this for ever changing; every :minute of every hour we are gasping it forth and sucking it in :again. :What is inside? :''Sense-perceptions vague and shadowy... the things of the soul, :''dreams, vapours. (Marcus Aurelius) :THINGS ARE THINGS BECAUSE OF THE MIND; :THE MIND IS MIND BECAUSE OF THE THINGS. :The aim of Zen, the aim of the poetical life, is to reach and :remain in that undifferentiated state where subject and object :are one, in which the object is perceived by simple :introspection, the subject is the self-conscious object. Subject :and object and to be realized as the two sides of one sheet of :paper, that is one and yet is two. The one piece of paper cannot :exist without the two sides, nor the two sides without the one :sheet. This analogy fails to satisfy if taken in any other way :but lightly and quickly, for to what should we compare the :universe? How can anything be true parable of the Essence of :Being? :IF YOU WISH TO KNOW WHAT THESE TWO ARE, :THEY ARE ORIGINALLY ONE EMPTINESS. :The Emptiness is described in the following way: it is perfectly :Harmonious, subject and object, Mind and Form are one. it is Pure :and Undefiled, things are, just as they are, delivered from all :stain of sin or imperfection. It is Unobstructed; all things are :free, interpenetrative. That is to way it is age-less, non-moral, :law-less. It is like light, containing all colours in it, but :itself colourless. It is not a thing but contains all things; :not a person but includes all minds; not beautiful or ugly but :the essence of both. :IN THIS VOID, BOTH (MIND AND THINGS) ARE ONE. :ALL THE MYRIAD PHENOMENA CONTAINED IN BOTH. :All mental phenomena are contained in things; all things are :contained in the mind. But this "in" has an interpenetrative :meaning; it is not the "in" of "inside" and "outside". An example :of this interpenetration: :''The Rose of Sharon :''At the side of the road :''Was eaten by my horse. : ~ Basho ~ :IF YOU DO NOT DISTINGUISH "REFINED" AND "COARSE", :HOW CAN YOU BE *FOR* THIS AND *AGAINST* THAT? :By "refined" and "coarse" is meant all the pairs of relatives :under which we look at the world. Habit makes it seem a necessity :that we should view the world so, since custom lies upon us "with :the weight heavy as frost, and deep almost as life", but moments :of vision, all moments profound enough to reach through to the :Void, the Ground of Being, the Way, tell us that refined or :coarse though things be, they are something which is neither, :yet which is not neither. Thoreau gives us an example, all the :truer because it is an unconscious one, of the way in which :the rough and the smooth are the same: :''The landscape was clothed in a mild and quiet light, in :''which the woods and fences checkered and partitioned it :''with new regularity, and rough and uneven fields stretched :''away with lawn-like smoothness to the horizon, and the clouds, :''finely distinct and picturesque, seemed a fit drapery to hang :''over fairy-land. :Thus all our preferences, from the weakest down to the strongest, :must be seen as one-sided, not in the sense that there are other :justifiable points of view, but that the thing is simply *not* :what we suppose it to be, the quality ascribed to it is entirely :absent. Then what is the thing if it is devoid of all qualities? :It is devoid of absence of those qualities, and what is meant by :this unpalatable conglomeration of negatives is that in some :mysterious way the thing is alive, it exists with a palpitating :stillness. A dark, invisible radiance comes from it, it moves :from nowhere to nowhere, its future and its past ever present. It :is the Way it travels; however small it fills all space; it is :the Ground of Being and the Flowers of the Spirit that spring :from it. It is the intimations of immortality and the certainty :of annihilation. :THE ACTIVITY OF THE GREAT WAY IS VAST; :IT IS NEITHER EASY NOR DIFFICULT. :The Way is called Great because there is nowhere else to walk :but on it: :I make myself a slave and yet must follow. :There is nothing difficult or easy about it, for it includes all :existence and all non-existence, all that is and all that can :never be. We think it is easy and it is not; we suppose it to be :difficult, and it is not. The ease or difficulty in entirely in :our fancy. But this fancy also is included in the vastness of the :activity of the Great Way and forms an essential part of it. :Marcus Aurelius says: :''Forget not that all is opinion, and that opinion subject to thee. :''Then cast it out when thou wilt, and, like the mariner who has :''doubled the cape, thou wilt find thyself in a great calm, a :''smooth sea, and a tideless bay. :SMALL VIEWS ARE FULL OF FOXY FEARS; :THE FASTER THE SLOWER. :Nothing can be achieved without courage. We fear to give up the :bird in the hand for the two in the bush. This bird in the hand :is not only life itself, but, for example, the Fatherhood of God. :When we give up life, we pass beyond life and death. When we :give up the Fatherhood of God, we lose also the feeling of :dependence and servility. But we are still alive, God is still :Our Father, -- but with a difference. Even with doubt there is :small view and large view, the former an over-cautiousness, :unadventurousness like that of the fox who will not venture on :the ice until it is safe for an elephant; and the Great Doubt, :which is the positive, active, thrusting doubt akin to curiosity :but much stronger and deeper. :Ordinary study is cumulative, but with Zen it is not so, because :it belongs to the timeless. This is why it is said, "The faster :the slower". The more you search, the farther away it gets, for :it is an open secret. To love God and love one's fellow man, -- :there is nothing beyond this, nothing that requires explanation. :Marcus Aurelius says: :''Life and death, fame and infamy, pain and pleasure, wealth and :''poverty fall to the lot of both just and unjust, because they are :''neither fair nor foul, neither good nor evil. :WHEN WE ATTACH OURSELVES TO THIS (IDEA OF ENLIGHTENMENT), :WE LOOSE OUR BALANCE; WE INFALLIBLY ENTER THE CROOKED WAY. :Our experience, our deepest experience has taught us something; :we wish to convey it to others. When they question its validity, :we become angry, losing our mental serenity by holding so firmly :to what is after all more intangible than snow-flakes or the :rainbow. It is not merely calmness of mind that we have lost, :however, but what is this and more, the Middle Way, the knowledge :(and practice) that our profoundest interpretation of life also :must be thrown overboard together with the sentimentality, :cruelty, snobbery, and folly that make our lives a misery. The :Crooked Way is not a morally distorted manner of life. It is :composed of virtues as much as of vices, of ideals, religious :dogmas, principles of freedom and justice, as much as of :degradation and tyranny. The Crooked Way is over-grieving at :inevitable sorrows, over-clinging to joys which must cease; it is :regarding as permanent what is but transitory; always looking for :the silver lining, desiring to be in the non-existent and :impossible "Land beyond the morning star". :WHEN WE ARE NOT ATTACHED TO ANYTHING, ALL THINGS ARE AS THEY ARE; :WITH ACTIVITY THERE IS NO GOING, NO STAYING. :Seize it and your hands are empty; drop it and they are full to :overflowing. Ask, and ye shall not receive, is the iron law. But :this non-asking is no indifference of blankness. It is like the :"weakness" of women that overcomes the strongest man. It is like :the force of gravity which pulls down the highest towers with not :a single movement on its own part. Buds open in spring without :straining; leaves fall in autumn without reluctance. The seasons :come and go, years and centuries, -- but not the Activity, not :the Great Way. There is no presence or absence, no increase or :diminution with that. :OBEYING OUR NATURE, WE ARE IN ACCORD WITH THE WAY. :WANDERING FREELY, WITHOUT ANNOYANCE. :Our own nature is not different from the nature of all things in :which there is nothing unnatural. The fiends of Hell, the :monsters of the deepest seas, the bacteria of our bosoms, the :perversions of maniacs cannot surprise or distrust us. Living by :Zen or without it, in perpetual fear and irritation; sadism and :masochism; the destruction of life and beauty; the annihilation ::of the universe, -- none of these things can appal us. Our own :faults and shortcomings, crimes and follies are a pleasure to :us; the punishment they bring to us and the others are yet :another confirmation of our insight into our true nature, :overlaid as it is with illusions and superimposed habits that :have become instincts, and usurp the authority of the Activity :that yet works unceasingly within and without us. :WHEN OUR THINKING IS TIED, :IT IS DARK, SUBMERGED, WRONG. :It is *dark*, so that we cannot distinguish the true nature of :things; we see friends as enemies, strengthening trials as :useless annoyances. We fail to perceive the so-called defects and :errors of others as an aspect of their Buddha nature. It is :*submerged*; it does not float upon the waves of circumstances :that can both drown or buoy us up. When all things work together :for good because we love God, that is, we seek not to change that :which is inevitable, the outside, but only the free, the inside, :then we are as light as corks however low the billows descend, :however high they mount aloft. It is *wrong*, because our nature :is freedom. Perfect service, no task left undone or scamped, as :best exemplified in a mother's unfailing, tender care, is right :because not tied by duty or public opinion. When we look around :and see odious people, a world of stupidity and spitefulness, the :weather always too warm or too cold, all the elements conspiring :to annoy us, death approaching nearer with ira prophetic twinges :and dull throbs, this is to be tied, pressed down by dark, :mournful waves of thought; Marcus Aurelius again: :''Thou art stricken in years; then suffer it not to remain a :''bond-servant; suffer is not to be puppet-like, hurried hither and :''thither by impulses that take no thought of thy fellow-man; :''suffer it not to murmur at destiny in the present or look askance :''at it in the future. :IT IS FOOLISH TO IRRITATE YOUR MIND; :WHY SHUN THIS AND BE FRIENDS WITH THAT? :Our ordinary mind, our ordinary life consists of nothing else but :avoiding this and pursuing that, but the life of "reason", that :rises up at times from some submerged realm into conscious life :is far other: :''The mind, when once it has withdrawn itself to itself and :''realized its own power has neither part nor lot with the soft :''and pleasant, or harsh and painful motions of thy breath. :(Marcus Aurelius) :IF YOU WISH TO TRAVEL IN THE VEHICLE, :DO NOT DISLIKE THE SIX DUSTS. :The Six Dusts are qualities produced by the objects and organs of :sense: sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, and idea. The One :Vehicle is the Mahayana, the vehicle of Oneness. The :"Saddharmapundarika Sutra" ("Hokkekyo") says: :''Only one vehicle of the Law, :''Not two, and not three. :The Six Dusts, that is, the body and its attendant misguided :ideas, are the cause of all our unhappiness and suffering, and :prevent us from seeing things as they really are and from having :the peace of mind that is our birthright. But an old waka says, :illustrating the way in which nothing is good or bad of its :nature, but thinking makes it so: :''Sin and evil :''Are not to be got rid of :''Just blindly; :''Look at the astringent persimmons! :''They turn into sweet dried ones. :If you get rid of the unripe, astringent persimmon, how shall you :obtain the ripe one? Get rid of the Six Dusts, and where will the :One Vehicle be? A well known poetess has said the same thing in a :more sentimental manner: :''He would not give me a lodging; :''How disagreeable it was! :''But through his kindness, :''I could sleep beneath the cherry-blossoms :''Under the hazy moon that night. :INDEED, NOT HATING THE SIX DUSTS :IS IDENTICAL WITH REAL ENLIGHTENMENT. :This absence of hatred, of intolerance, disgust, righteous :indignation, discrimination and judging, is itself the state of :Buddhahood. This negativeness, however, is not that of the :opposite of affirmation. It is not the passive condition it seems :to be, neither can it be described by the words "love our :enemies". It is not absence of feeling, of indifference, but some :unnameable attitude of mind in which evil is accepted as such :though not condoned. It is descried by George Eliot in following :way: :"Ay sir", said Luke, as he gave his arm to his master, :"you will make up your mind to it a bit better, when you've seen :''everything; you'll get used to it. That's what my mother says :''about her shortness of breath - she says she's made friends wi' :''it, though she fought against it when it first came in". :("The Mill on the Floss") :In a word, we must not hate hatred. :THE WISE MAN DOES NOTHING, :''THE FOOL SHACKLES HIMSELF. :The wise passivity is that of nature: :''The buds swell imperceptibly without hurry or confusion, as if :''the short spring day were an eternity. :(Thoreau, "A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers") :We bind ourselves with our likes and dislikes, we are bound with :fancied bonds. There is nothing so strong in the world as a :delusion, nothing so indestructible as this imaginary, :non-existent self and its temporary profit and loss, loving and :loathing. ---- Introduction Page One ... Page Two ... Page Three ... Without Commentary ... Cleary Translation ... Shinjin-No-Mei D.T.Suzuki ---- A translation known as Faith Mind by Clark is a W.I.P. as is the original Chinese ---- Category:-ts-